TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Wed Nov 20 11:40:28 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Matthew Aaron Desmond [Matthew Desmond]

MADtype (est. 1996) is Matt Desmond's place in the type world. He has had a prolific career that started out with shareware fonts while Matt was at the Minneapolis Technical and Community College. His page back then said A haven for quality shareware type for the Mac. Later, Matt started mattdesmond.com, and co-founded the Test Pilot Collective (est. 1998 with Joseph Kral and Mike Cina). Many of his early typefaces were experimental and/or futuristic. In late 2003, mattdesmond.com disappeared, and MADtype, commercial now, resurfaced at the MyFonts site. Currently, Matt is based in Minnetnka, MN. He has also lived in Atlanta, GA, Fayetteville, GA, Rochester, NY, Redwood City, CA, and San Francisco, CA. His fonts can also be purchased via You Work For Them. He also does commissioned type design. Some fonts are freely available at the Google Font Directory.

Retail types as of 2011:

• Abel (2011, Google Font Directory). Abel Pro was published in 2013.
• Aldrich (2011). A Bank Gothic style face, free at OFL.
• Amber (2000): kitchen tile face.
• American Gothic (1998): squarish.
• Audebaud (2010): a 19-th century style French Clarendon (wood type look). The design was inspired by the work of Constant Audebaud, an engraver of wooden type that was used for posters. Audebaud's work appeared in the 1880s in the Deux-Sèvres département of France.
• Beat (1998): rounded OCR face.
• Brauhaus (2004): Textura face.
• Cagliostro (2011). A free font at Google Web Fonts that is based on the handlettering of Ozwald Cooper.
• Curbdog (1998).
• Desmond Text (1998): a roman that has features of University Roman.
• Distill (2009): a De Stijl font that shouts 1920s.
• Dunelm (1996): emulation of 17th century printing styles.
• Dwiggins Deco (2009): This typeface was originally designed in 1930 by W.A. Dwiggins as the cover for the book "American Alphabets" by Paul Hollister. Only the 26 letters of the alphabet were included on the cover, so the rest of the numbers, punctuation, symbols, and accented characters have been crafted in a matching [art deco] style.
• Findon (2007): stencil.
• Futuristic category: ER9 (1999), KAH (2005, LCD style), Lunarmod (1997), Retron (1997; can be considered as a retro upright connected script as well), Shifty (1998).
• Grunge category: Bulletin (1997), Gothico Antiqua (1999), Rubba (1997), Stomper (1997--a rubber stamp font), Zapatista (1998-2007).
• Handwriting, handprinting category: Casino Hand (2005), Ghouliez (1996), Handegypt (2002---hand-drawn slab serif), Handy Sans (1997, hand-drawn sans), Joppa (1997), Pufficlaude BT (1998).
• Hessian (2009): Tuscan style wood type.
• Hydrochlorica (2004): organic.
• Invoice (1997).
• Ironside Crosses (2004): dingbat face.
• Marble Roman (2004-2009): angular roman all caps type.
• Matterhorn (2013). A 9-style sans family created with Michael Cina for Disney. Not to be confused with the many retail typefaces that are also called Matterhorn, such as Paratype's PT Matterhorn (1993) and Treacyfaces' TF Matterhorn (1990s).
• Pacioli or Luca Pacioli Caps (2007: emulating a mathematically constructed caps font by Pacioli (1509) published in his treatise De divina proportione.
• Pixel category: Basis (1999), Mang (1997).
• Plenti (2004): ultra plump.
• Quantico (2007): octagonal.
• Stencil category: Bandoleer (2009, +Tracer: a couple of stencil fonts with art deco and army influences), Madison (2007, slab serif stencil), Mercado (2005; has a non-stencil Mercado Sans).
• Urbandale (2018). A basic sans family.
• Variable (2004-2010): a sans-serif monoline typeface that includes ultra thin weights.
• Vexed (2005): sketched face.
• Wolfsburg (2007): blackletter stencil.
• Wooddale (1999): wood type emulation.

Free types as of 2010: Marble Roman, Environ regular, Dorkbutt, Europa, Exsect, Inthacity, Liquidy Bulbous, Lustria (2012, Google Web Fonts), Stomper.

Commissioned types: 77kids (2007, for the children's brand; the sketched typefaces were done with Justin Thomas Kay), AE Aerie (2005-206, American Eagle Outfitters), AE Newburgh (2005-206, American Eagle Outfitters), AE Summer Fonts (2007, all for American Eagle Outfitters), EEL Futura (2006, for Enjoying Everyday Life), Nike World Cup (2006), Virgin America (2006).

Typefaces from 2019: Starfire (2019, a retro geometric sans).

Orphaned types that disappeared or were planned but never executed: BrotherMan, Caprice, Convolve, HipstersDelight, Lugubrious, ModestaSmallCaps, Serifity, Skitzoid, Sliver, ThrowupSolid, Auresh (1998, futuristic; Test Pilot Collective), Kcap6 (1998, with Cina; Test Pilot Collective), Epiphany (1997; Test Pilot Collective), Testacon (with Kral and Cina; Test Pilot Collective), Civicstylecom (1999; Test Pilot Collective), Lutix (1998; Test Pilot Collective), Xerian (1997; Test Pilot Collective), Swoon, Furtive (2004, a sans), the display typeface Flathead (2004), the blackletter typeface Bahn (2004), Mesotone BT (2006, Bitstream, a monoline sans), Practical (a monoline connec script, planned in 2007 but not published), Poliphili (planned in 2007, as a revival of an Aldus/Griffo font), Wutupdo (1996, Garage Fonts), GFDesmond (Garage Fonts), Drone, Golden Times (2014, a corporate small caps typeface for the University of Minnesota), Vapiano (2014: hand-printed typeface for Vapiano International).

Behance link. View Matt Desmond's typefaces. Fontspring link. Fontsquirrel link.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Matthew Aaron Desmond
 [Buy fonts]
 [Designer info]
Fontspring link [Buy fonts]
Monotype link
Behance page
Klingspor Museum page
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Sites with only a few free fonts ⦿ Handwriting fonts ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Sci-Fi fonts ⦿ Kitchen tile fonts ⦿ Commercial fonts (small outfits) ⦿ Blackletter fonts ⦿ Stencil fonts ⦿ Very thin (hairline sans) typefaces ⦿ Codex-like fonts ⦿ Experimental type ⦿ Octagonal typefaces ⦿ Type scene in Georgia (the state, not the country) ⦿ Type scene in Minnesota ⦿ Art deco typefaces ⦿ Wood Type ⦿ OCR fonts ⦿ Pixel/bitmap fonts ⦿ Sketched typefaces ⦿ De Stijl and type design ⦿ Type scene in California ⦿ Type scene in New York ⦿ LED / LCD fonts ⦿ Textura ⦿ Hacker fonts ⦿ Corporate typefaces ⦿ Type scene in Georgia (the state, not the country) ⦿ Corporate typefaces ⦿ Clarendon ⦿ Hipster fonts ⦿ Tuscan fonts ⦿